§ MR. GINNELL (Westmeath, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the 457 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, having regard to the fact recognised by Parliament in 1881, and subsequently, that the relation of landlord and tenant in Ireland precluded real freedom of contract between those parties with reference to rent, and similarly recognised by Parliament with reference to price in all the Purchase of Land Acts prior to that of 1903, and that on account of the said fact Parliament established authorities for fixing rents and controlling prices; and having regard to the immediate increase in prices of land consequent on the removal of the latter safeguard by the Act of 1903, and the ultimate risk to persons not parties to contracts under that Act, in the event of default by the purchasers, what practical measures His Majesty's Government propose to take against this risk.
* MR. BRYCEWithout expressing any opinion upon the validity of the argumentative portion of this Question, His Majesty's Government consider that the evidence before them including the experience acquired under former Land Purchase Acts, goes to show that the advances which are being made to purchasers under the Act of 1903 are adequately secured.